Experimental Design
The experiment follows the structure of previous dictator games that use two-step norm-elicitation procedures (e.g. Bicchieri & Xiao, 2009; Xiao & Houser, 2008). Dictators can choose one of the options A-G, of which a provision of 1 GBP or 1.25 GBP (option C & D) to the receiver is referred to as a fair offer (frame between 40%-50%) and offers of 0.25 GBP or 0.5 GBP (option A & B, 20%-30%) are referred to as low share.
This study applies the strategy method, where all participants are in the role of a dictator and have to decide on a (hypothetical) option. After the decision is made, two participants are randomly paired. One is randomly chosen as the dictator, whose chosen option will be implemented, while the other becomes a receiver.
After subjects make their decisions, the experiment elicits participants’ personal normative beliefs and normative expectations (most common response) regarding the fair share (option C or D). Participants can choose whether they personally believe providing a fair share is very inappropriate, somewhat inappropriate, somewhat appropriate or very appropriate. Normative expectations are incentivized, in a way that participants will receive an additional bonus (0.25 GBP) if their answer to the question (which option do you think most of participants chose in the preceding question?) matches the correct majority answer. On the next screen, participants are asked whether they expect others to provide a fair share (yes/no, empirical expectations).
Then, three treatments will be conducted in which I implement different variations of the elicitation procedure.